It all began for Jim in Dallas Texas, in 1955. Jim is the third of 5
boys and long ago lost his " how y'all do'n" Texas drawl. In fact, he
doesn't remember a lot about Texas except standing in the front seat of
a police car randomly pointing to houses and saying "that's where I
live". In fact he had little idea of where he was or what his house
looked like but it sure was fun for Jim watching the officers talk to
the bewildered homeowners as this little child pointed to them and said
"This is where I live."
Well it wasn't long before Jim, his three brothers, Tippy the family
dog and all necessary diapers, maps, snacks, clothes and known and
unknown pests of the Texas territory were loaded up in the family sedan
and on their way through the desert of the southwest to the promised
land of the "Valley of Hearts Delight." Today we know this land as
Silicon Valley but in 1960 there were a lot more prunes and apricot
orchards than concrete tilt up buildings.
They ended up in a new home very close to Homestead High School that
Jim's parents paid something like $20,000 dollars for, and which now
sells for something like $600,000 dollars. It was the best of times,
as they say, Jim's fourth brother was born in 1961, completing there 5-man
basketball team. They had wonderful times picking smooshy ripe
apricots and shamelessly pelting each other much to the farmers' and
their parents' disapproval. It was Jim's formative years. He learned
to ride a bike, play baseball, read, write and generally progressed
through the local school system and into that land of big people
otherwise known as adulthood.
From a very early age Jim occupied his idle hours by exploring the man
made objects that encompassed his universe. His mothers mix master,
her osterizer, and his own bike. These items would find their way onto
the garage floor where Jim would try to disassemble these perfectly
functional appliances into their individual components. At this early
age, about seven, Jim rarely succeeded because he lacked the required
intellect, training, experience and his mother intervened
before complete disassembly. But he was not discouraged and was often left
alone to educate himself about the mechanical devices within his reach.
Jim had the usual odd jobs while growing up; working in the yard was
one. He learned that if he wanted to go play baseball with his friends
he needed to finish his chores first, his father made sure of this.
His first real job was delivering the San Francisco Examiner on his
bike in the afternoon. There were only about 30 papers but delivering
them required riding about 10 miles and it paid around $40 dollars a
month. This was more than Jim had ever earned.
His senior year in high school Jim started working at the local Shell
gas station on weekends. This was when there were full service gas
stations, gas was 30 cents a gallon and an attendant actually came out,
pumped your gas, washed your windows, checked under the hood and even
the tires if you asked. What Jim wanted to do (learn about and fix
cars) and what he was really doing (washing windows, pumping gas and
vacuuming cars) left him longing for more. He was closer than ever to
bigger and more complicated machines and he wanted to know how they
worked, how they started, what made them run, what were all these
mysterious belts and pulleys and how turning a tiny key could make this
Goliath of a machine magically start and run.
Back then, and even more so now, Jim realized that to truly understand
this Goliath, this giant mix master on wheels, he needed schooling. He
needed to know what happened when you turned that key, what happened
when you stepped on that accelerator and why stepping down with so
little effort on a tiny three inch by two inch brake pedal made this
3,000 pound hulk of rubber and steel come to a screeching stop.
Fortunately, the local college, De Anza College had and still operates
an automotive technology program. This is where theory, belts, pulleys
and student meet. This is where Jim learned automotive theory, how the
basic automotive systems work, how the brakes work, how the car starts,
how to keep the engine cool and just as importantly how to keep the
passengers cool. He went to school full time during the day and
continued working at the Shell station in the afternoon and weekends.
School was like work, he had to punch the time clock, couldn't be
absent, they expelled students who missed more than three days, had to
wear coveralls, and had to have his own tools.
For two years Jim went to school full time during the day and worked
afternoons and weekends at the service station. It was a good mix and
Jim learned many things to propel him full force into the automotive
repair business. Jim went from washing windows on weekends to working
full time during the day at the Shell station and started full time as
an automotive technician after he finished De Anza's automotive
technology program. At the full service gas station he fixed almost
anything that came in, from flat tires on bicycles to brakes on tow
trucks. He learned a lot at the Shell station and worked there almost
seven years before being hired on at Smythe European, now Smythe Volvo.
Jim was hired as a third year apprentice at Smythe European and became
a journeyman mechanic after finishing all the requirements of the union
apprenticeship program. While at the Volvo dealership Jim started in
the new car department and quickly transferred to the "line". Back
then if you looked down the line you would see eight benches, eight
tool boxes, eight lifts and eight puzzled technicians looking at the
new model year car with its new fuel injection system and no manuals or
information on how it works. Today if you looked down that line you'd
see about twenty technicians looking at computer screens instead of the
new model year car but with that same puzzled look and asking "How's it
work? What's wrong with it? and How are we going to fix it".
While working at the Volvo dealership Jim was one of the top three
finalists out of more than 120 technicians participating in Volvo's
product knowledge and hands on testing program. Jim worked at the
dealership a number of years and seeking more challenges opened Scandia
Auto Service where he's been ever since.
